Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Hen – 12

「さくらと氷の球技大会」 (Sakura to Koori no Kyuugitaikai)
“Sakura and The Icy Ball Sports Tournament”

I didn’t know I was watching Sakura no Basuke.

General Impressions

Lame basketball anime jokes aside, boy was this week’s episode a fun one. Compared to everything else we’ve seen thus far, it was really nice to see the effects of the “magical” world that Sakura lives in finally mixing in with the real world. And sure, even though the implications of all of this is leading us to a real specific conclusion, it doesn’t make it any less enjoyable to watch!

So, rewinding things back to the beginning of the episode, boy was Kaito looking super evil today. As the perfect butler that can do just about anything, I loved how this week’s episode once again played with props, shadows, and colors to show us what may be lurking behind that perfect smile of his. Starting with the coy play at showing us his pocket watch to hiding his eyes as he was talking about Akiho’s dreams, how can you not assume he’s the end-game baddie? That said, the larger question I think revolves around just why and how Akiho plays into all of this. As a normie (at least to the best of our knowledge), she should have nothing connecting her to all of this. We haven’t seen any links to her family and magic (minus Kaito, who isn’t related by blood), but as someone very wise said last week, magic seems to find its way toward Sakura and I’m sure Akiho isn’t an exception.

Moving on from that, I wonder what’s going on with Syaoran right now. Besides being extra dodgy the past few episodes, his strained expression during this week’s card capture leads me to believe that there might be something else going on. Maybe it’s nothing, but his facial expression when he had to bust out his insane fire spell was definitely not the well composed Syaoran we’re used to seeing.

Overall, another decent episode that feels like it’s setting us up for a huge payoff sometime in the future. With Sakura inching closer and closer to discovering who the masked figure is and the story giving us a little bit more each and every episode on Akiho and Kaito, all that’s really left is for the two to collide. In any case, I’ll catch you guys around as we keep on asking more and more questions as we hope for some answer some time in the near future.

While I reckon Kaito is probably more of an end “Trial” than a baddie, kind of disappointed that Akiho is involved.
In a way it’s predictable (though I think we all tried to be like “aw nah can’t be THAT obvious), but maybe I just want Sakura to be the only and cutest magical girl in the world and having a contender for that title makes me protest a bit haha.

That aside can’t believe Mei Ling has come so far as an endearing bestie of Sakura’s that even I don’t mind.

Anytime you have power you have jealousy. And jealousy/envy can turn even the nicest person into the Green-Eyed Monster.

It looks like Kaito is either fulfilling Akiho’s wish, or using Akiho to test Sakura to have Sakura’s magic and/or cards taken away. This fits my theory that the Clow/Sakura cards have turned transparent, that all the powers seem different, more visceral, and that Sakura is actually capturing the cards for someone else. We all know how powerful Yue was with Moon magic testing first Syaoran and then Sakura at the end of the first card-capturing. Now we have Kaito as the final bad guy.

Notice how Syaoran’s magic circle changed when he used that orb? Part of me is REALLY thinking that orb is Firey. We couldn’t hear the spell he was saying and the circle definitely looks blurred. That would explain Syaoran’s sour expression during and after the fight.

I doubt Kaito is actually a bad guy, just someone trying to help Sakura (and Akiho) grow. Though, I wonder if Kaito is actually the mage and Akiho is like Yukito, having an alternate form but no recollection of what happens. She seems to only be connected to that other form due to dreams.

I TOTALLY agree with that theory!! I was like…wait…is..that..FIREY?! But I gotta say that this series is starting to rub me in the wrong way because I’m seriously freaking out over the Sakura cards. We spent SO MUCH time in developing an understanding, appreciation and love for each card (some more than others) and now they are just ALL gone. I feel like a bunch of my friends died :(!!

Theory: Akiho is the true master of the clear cards; Kaito is the equivalent of Yukito; the bunny is like kero. Kaito is looking for the “Sakura book”, explaining why we keep hearing about Akiho wanting to visit Fujitaka’s library. Kero is starting to lose power, which is why he is sleeping more. I think Kaito will be a similar “villain” like Eriol was: somehow antagonist, but was a “good guy” all along.

I agree with you. Kaito has moon powers as like Yue. Maybe he is the black dragon thing that appears in the last part? I am curiius about Syaoran’s secrets. Maybe he can’t use this new spell as much as he likes to. And what about Kero chan? Sakura said he is almosr alk the time in sleepy mode…. Almost like Yuki in first season. Maybe is it because they didn’t have any fire cards. I guess with the Meiling’s visit we are going to known more about is happening, cause she always puts Syaoran against the wall, telling him to do something. Maybe I miss Tsubasa’s world too much, but it will be awesome if Sakura’s dad discovers some Clow Koku remains. I don’t known but I always think that he knows more than we guess.

Kero losing power would definitely explain why he didn’t transform when they needed fire based attacks to fight against the Hail card. I think Akiho is the true master of the clear cards as well. My theory is that for whatever reason she had all her memories of the cards and magic removed and stored away until the right time comes. Maybe the cloaked figure is her former self.

Kaito’s not likely to be looking for the Sakura book as it was originally the Crow book so it’s not recognizable anymore. But if Kaito is the equivalent of Yukito then he might be draining Kero’s powers because moon uses outside magic while sun generates their own.

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